MARKET REPORT: Bulls bellow as US jobs fire FTSE and Wall Street trades above magic 17,000 level for first time

It was game, set and match to the bulls as they partied like it was 1999.

Wonderful Wall Street traded above the magic 17,000 level for the first time and the fabulous Footsie climbed 48.84 points to 6,865.21 – within 1.4 per cent of its all-time high of 6,950.60 attained in December 1999 – following news that the world’s largest economy in June saw its strongest sustained job creation since the late 1990s.

After Wednesday’s solid ADP jobs data, dealers were optimistic that crucial June non-farm payrolls data would please. But the figure smashed all expectations, rising to 288,000 and well above concensus forecasts for jobs creation of 205,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent, its lowest level since September 2008.

Many
investors had been waiting for much stronger evidence that the US
economy was in good shape and the jobs data certainly put their mind at
rest. But the stronger employment figures will exert greater pressure
on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than the market
anticipates.

The
Centre for Economics and Business Research expects rates in the US to
rise in the second-quarter of 2015, following the completion of the
tapering of its asset purchases in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Billionaire
Mike Ashley, a man the City loves to hate, probably enjoyed a pint at
his local as shares of Sports Direct International topped the Footsie
table with a gain of 41p to 769p. On Wednesday, at the fourth time of
asking, his company technically gained enough support to proceed with a
plan to reward Ashley with shares worth up to £200m.

Antofagasta,
known in the market as ‘Fags’, climbed 38.5p to 820p in solidarity
alongside a gain in the copper price to a four-month high. Fresnillo
added 29p to 933.5p in sympathy with firmer metal prices.

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Imperial
Tobacco was puffed 99p higher to 2698p as Goldman Sachs said that any
shift by smokers into e-cigarettes was unlikely to have a material
impact on earnings expectations over the next five years or more. Even
in markets where e-cigarettes have had higher adoption rates, they have
had a limited impact on the tobacco industry.

Despite
having to take a back seat while the BBC and ITV cover the World Cup in
Brazil, satellite TV giant BskyB closed 7p dearer at 903p. Yet Nomura
analyst Matthew Walker advised clients to reduce their holding ahead of a
price rise from September of £2.50p a month or 11 per cent for Sky
Sports channels.

Sky
announced in May that it had agreed 17 sports rights deals including US
Masters, IPL and European Rugby, and in June it renewed US Open golf.
It is also launching Sky Sports 5, a new European football channel.

Housebuilder
MJ Gleeson, which is focused on affordable houses in the North of
England, erected a gain of 20p to 400p after forecasting better than
expected annual profits after selling more homes in the past 12 months
and cashing in on demand from major housebuilders for green field sites
in southern England.

It
said group profits in the year to June would be significantly above
hopes after it sold 561 homes, up 38 per cent against the previous
year’s total of 406. The forward order book for Gleeson Homes at July 1
totalled £44.2m, up 70 per cent on 2013’s total of £26m.

Michael Spencer’s inter-dealer broker ICAP firmed 5.4p to 382p.

Outsourcing
giant Serco, which operates the Boris bike scheme and the Docklands
Light Railway, cheapened 3.3p to 363p after new boss Rupert Soames
admitted the value of some of its largest contracts would have to be
written down. Soames warned that between £10m and £15m of provisions
could be required to cover the total shortfalls when the company reports
its half-year results next month.

A
positive half-year update lifted Quadrise Fuels 5p to 36.5p. The
company makes a substitute to heavy fuel oil and is moving into the
commercial phase quicker than expected and looking to increase supply.
Pell Hunt’s target price is 58p.

Camco
Clean Energy touched 4.62p before closing flat at 4.5p after announcing
its selection as a joint investment advisor by Green Africa Power, a
new £98m fund to stimulate private investment in renewable energy
projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Litigation
finance provider Burford Capital added a penny to 120.5p after
‘continued strong investment returns’ in the first half of the year.

Buyers
chased Mosman Oil & Gas, the oil exploration and development
company, 9.63p higher to 36.25p on news that an analysis of the recently
discovered oil shows at Cross-Roads-1 showed it met the definition of a
discovery under New Zealand legislation.

Run
by ex-Rolls-Royce management, power generation company Intelligent
Energy should trade well above the flotation price of 340p when official
dealings begin on the main market on Wednesday.

Raising
£50m with a market capitalisation of £630m, it provides power solutions
to Third World economies. Cash raised will help promote products such
as the Upp, a phone charger that does not need to be plugged into the
mains.